The Path That Vanishes
by altura9
Summary: It was the worst day of Simon Blackquill's life for more reasons than one. Major Dual Destinies endgame spoilers.


Summary: It was the worst day of Simon Blackquill's life for more reasons than one. Major Dual Destinies endgame spoilers. I should also note that this story employs some of the assumptions I've made about the characters and their relationships, though I suppose it's up to you guys to decide if those assumptions are warranted. ;)

I don't know why, but unrequited Simon/Metis just became a thing in my mind one day…and, well, this was the result!

**The Path That Vanishes**

Something felt different about that day.

How many times had Simon Blackquill visited the Cosmos Space Center over the past year? He had lost count. Dr. Cykes' psychology lessons often lasted hours, but it never felt tedious to him. He could have sat there for ages in the robotics lab, talking with his sister, Dr. Cykes, and little Athena. After grueling hours at the prosecutor's office, coming to the space center always felt like a joyous reprieve.

But that day...

Simon looked up at the space center logo. It didn't look any different than usual, but Simon felt a shiver snake its way down his spine as he watched one of the dark clouds overhead slide slowly behind the first large "C." What was wrong with him? Dr. Cykes would tell him it was all in his head, certainly.

He walked through the glass front doors, surprised that he was not immediately greeted by one of Dr. Cykes' robots. They usually milled about in the entrance when they weren't hard at work in the robotics laboratory. His eyes swept the lobby, and he noticed a large banner that read: "Congratulations, crew! HAT-1 Launch: October 8, 2020."

_Of course_, Simon thought. _Tomorrow is the launch of the HAT-1 rocket. Dr. Cykes has been working on that tirelessly over the past few months, so all of the robots must be with her…_

He was also a bit surprised that Yuri Cosmos had not yet appeared to bother him. The ostentatious director always seemed to ambush him when he least expected it, though he supposed his absence was also due to the impending launch. He was probably off somewhere talking about his exploits to some hapless employee, or polishing his stars and badges in his office. Simon smirked to himself at the thought.

As he walked through the halls of the space center, Simon's musings drifted to all he had learned at the place. It really was marvelous – the research that his sister and Dr. Cykes had been conducting would certainly lead to breakthroughs in both psychology and robot AI. When Aura had suggested he ask her superior to teach him analytical psychology, he would have never guessed that he would become so interested in the other work taking place in the lab.

He never would have suspected that he would become so fond of the Cykes family, either. He was not a cold person by any means, but he tended to keep himself at a distance from others, especially when it came to work matters. During those first few lessons, Simon was rigidly formal with Dr. Cykes and her young daughter, but after getting a feel for their personalities he became unabashedly comfortable around him. They were so different from the stuffy men and women he worked with at the prosecutor's office. His psychology lessons at the Cosmos Space Center were a mix of one-on-one tutorial sessions with Dr. Cykes, and then a sort of play-lesson where Athena would join in. Dr. Cykes had been teaching her psychology as well, it seemed. The little girl cut a strange figure with her bizarre pink headphones, and Simon had inquired about them the first time they had met.

"And what are these for, Athena?" Simon had asked, bending down and pointing at her headphones.

Athena gave a small scowl. "Mom says they're to keep me from reading too many peoples' emotions. She says it might get to be too much for me." She shook her head, still frowning. "But I don't like them."

Simon looked inquisitively to Dr. Cykes at this. She gave a sad smile. "Athena has a gift for reading others' emotions from the sound of their voice alone. She began complaining about how sensitive her ears were about a year ago, so I made those headphones for her in an attempt to take the edge off. They have a dampening effect that blocks out most of the emotional overtones she would otherwise be hearing."

"That's…amazing," said Simon. "That certainly sounds like more than a little girl should be bombarded with, though."

"I'm not little!" cried Athena, stamping her foot. "And…and I don't need these stupid headphones!"

Dr. Cykes' sad smile had not disappeared. "As you can see, Athena still doesn't like the headphones, even though I try to explain that it would be much worse without them."

"Maybe I can help with that," said Simon kindly, and he turned to Athena. "Athena, why don't we sit and talk for a bit? You can show me how the robots here work." Still stubborn, Athena nodded curtly. Simon could tell that the idea of playing with the robots had cheered her up, though, and followed her to the laboratory's work bench where she had been patching up a perpetually happy Ponco.

So it had been over the past few months. Simon had his lessons with Dr. Cykes, and then he would spend a good deal of time playing with Athena, talking to her about the robotics lab and her mother's experiments. Simon had tried to push the fact that all of Dr. Cykes' efforts were for Athena's benefit, and that Athena herself was a vital part of her work. As a result, the three became quite close and, to the delight of the Cykes family, Simon became a fixture in the robotics laboratory.

Starting a few weeks ago, though, something in the dynamic had begun to change. Simon had thought that his affection for Dr. Cykes was purely that of a student for their dear and respected mentor; indeed, he had never dreamed it would go beyond that. However, little occurrences soon started to have an impact on him, and after a while, even the normally reserved Simon could not deny their power. A quick stolen glance at Dr. Cykes as she bent over her work, a jolt of excitement as her hand glanced against his while they wrote out notes, those few moments when he had looked into her eyes a little longer than was normally comfortable for him…

Yesterday in particular had been an enlightening experience in this regard. Dr. Cykes had suggested they take a short break while she went over her notes for the upcoming HAT-1 launch. While she did that, Simon took a moment to admire the Japanese paraphernalia hanging over the work bench. There were several scrolls, a mask, and a katana to admire, and he had been scrutinizing them for quite some time when Dr. Cykes came up to stand next to him.

"Fascinating, aren't they? My husband got some of these for me while he was in Japan, since he knew how much I love Japanese culture. The katana, though…" She giggled softly. "That one I picked up on my own."

Simon gave her a wry smile. "Strange how a proper lady like you would be attracted to such a dangerous weapon, Dr. Cykes."

This time her laugh was stronger, and it was so contagious that Simon couldn't help but laugh with her. "Can you imagine how fierce I must look wielding such a thing? I got that katana right before he died, you know…"

"Oh?" Simon was intrigued, but he did not want to pry. "I-I'm sorry to hear that, Dr. Cykes."

"Thank you, Simon. And it's alright; it's been years since his accident…terrible car crash." Her smile had become sad, but she looked purposefully at her student. "You know, you remind me of him a bit…you're just as witty and kind." She reached out to touch his hand gently. It was a simple and innocent gesture, but Simon felt his heart shudder at the light brush of fingers.

"Out of everyone I know – students and co-workers alike – I think you're the most likely to make good use of my teachings," said Dr. Cykes. "Not to sound too egotistical, of course." She let out a tinkling laugh, and Simon marveled. How had he not noticed before how beautiful her smile was?

"Of course you don't sound egotistical, Dr. Cykes. And I'm quite flattered you would say that about me." "Flattered" didn't exactly do the feeling justice, though – he hoped Dr. Cykes hadn't noticed how red he was becoming.

Dr. Cykes seemed to perk up suddenly, and she gestured for Simon to follow her lead. "Come over here for a minute, Simon. I want to show you something." She walked over to her desk and, curious, Simon followed her. Sitting next to her computer was a necklace with a small bauble hanging from the end. On closer inspection, Simon could see that the bauble was actually a face smiling up at him.

"This is Widget," said Dr. Cykes, picking up the necklace and cradling the tiny face in her hands. "It's a necklace I made for Athena. But…it's not just any ordinary necklace." She tapped the face and, to Simon's astonishment, a holographic screen immediately issued from Widget. The screen hung in midair, transparent. It was light green and transparent, lighting up Dr. Cykes' excited face. At each of the screen's four corners, a different colored face glowed with varying intensity, and Simon noticed that presently the brightest faces were glowing both green and yellow.

"What does it do, Dr. Cykes?" Simon asked, absolutely bewildered. He had moved close to her now, all the better to see the screen from her point of view.

"It displays the emotions of the person the wearer is focusing on by reading the tone of their voice," explained Dr. Cykes. "For example, I'm focusing on you right now, so it's reading your emotions. I'm not wearing Widget, of course, but since I'm controlling it, the device thinks of me as the wearer. I call the emotional display itself the Mood Matrix."

"It r-reads emotions?" Simon gasped, somewhat embarrassed. His heart thundered in his chest. Hopefully it couldn't read his emotions that accurately…

"It does indeed. You're feeling happiness and shock after being told what Widget does, aren't you?"

"Well…yes. I suppose you could say I am."

Dr. Cykes nodded. "The four faces represent four basic emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, and shock. Of course, our own emotions are often much more complicated than that, and they can't readily be summed up by just one word or even a combination of those four. I'm hoping I'll be able to make the program a bit more advanced by the time it's ready for Athena, but her own powers of observation are so strong that I doubt she'll really need them."

"It's fantastic, however it ends up," said Simon earnestly. "And this is a gift for Athena, then? I think it's perfect for her."

His mentor smiled again. "Thank you. I do, too. I really hope she'll enjoy it. It's going to be a Christmas present, I think." She turned Widget over in her hands, and shut the Mood Matrix display off. Without the display, it looked like a simple but charming piece of jewelry. "As you can probably tell, the whole idea behind Widget grew out of my study of Athena's own ability to detect emotions from the sound of a person's voice. I hope that when I give this to her…that she'll finally understand that the work I'm doing is out of love."

Simon felt a wave of affection and pity for his mentor, and wished that he could reassure her beyond mere words that Athena was cognizant of her mother's love. "She will, Dr. Cykes. She already does. I can tell she does by the way she talks about you when we play together." He moved even closer to her, not sure what he was trying to do. Was it appropriate to touch her shoulder, to put his arm around her? He didn't know.

Moved, Dr. Cykes looked up at him with soft eyes. "You're too kind, Simon." This was it. They were incredibly close now. For a split second, Simon felt the desire to tilt his face to the side and kiss her. As soon as the opportunity had presented itself, though, it vanished. Dr. Cykes turned away, placing Widget back on her desk.

"I just hope I'm brave enough to give it to her, in the end," she sighed. "I'm afraid she won't accept the fruits of my research…that it will be just like the headphones again."

"I'm sure it won't be," said Simon, his heart aching for that lost opportunity to return. "Like I said, Athena has a clearer idea of the purpose of your research now. Please don't worry, Dr. Cykes."

His words seemed to cheer her, and they went back to their lesson with gusto. When they were finished, Simon lingered a bit longer than usual, but could not think of any way to pick up the earlier thread of conversation again. With a nod to his mentor and a heavy heart, he left the space center and headed for his car.

That same night, Simon had agreed to dinner with his sister at her place. Aura knew Dr. Cykes better than anyone else at the space center, didn't she? Against his better judgment, he decided that at least pitching his thoughts to her couldn't hurt.

They had been eating in silence for a long stretch of time before Simon finally spoke up.

"Aura?" he asked in an uncharacteristically timid voice.

She acknowledged him by arching an eyebrow.

"D-do you think Dr. Cykes…ah…" He swallowed. "Do you think she would ever remarry?"

She looked at him suspiciously. "I don't know, Simon. She never really talks about her husband at work. Plus, I'm sure she doesn't want to upset the little princess with memories like that."

"We talked about him briefly today," said Simon, shifting a bit in his seat so as to seem nonchalant. "She said that I…reminded her of him. That of all of the people she knew, I was the most likely to put her teachings to good use. It was…flattering."

If possible, Aura looked even more suspicious. "And what does that have to do with her remarrying?"

"Ah." Simon could feel the color rise in his cheeks. "I-I know it's highly unprofessional, and Athena being so attached to me makes it feel strange, but…"

To his surprise, Aura rose rather violently from her seat, her fingers splayed on the table in front of her. "Simon…you don't seriously fancy Metis, do you?"

There was no hiding the blush in his cheeks at this point. "It's simply that we've so many shared interests. Dr. Cykes is wise, compassionate…"

"…And beautiful. I get it." Aura was snapping at him now. "You think Metis and I sit there and gossip like school girls all day? What, do you want me to ask her what she thinks of you while we giggle together? And God, Simon, she's your teacher…and a good ten years or so older than you."

A wave of shame crashed over Simon. How had he dared to take his flight of fancy so far? "O-of course you're right, Aura. It was foolish of me to even…to even harbor such thoughts…"

She snorted. "I'm glad you realize that. To imagine my honorable little brother sacrificing his career to – to bed his superior. Disgusting."

Simon flushed, and a wave of strongest guilt mixed with the shame and anger as he realized that Aura's accusation had not been entirely unpleasant to him. She went on.

"Don't you have enough pretty young lawyers fawning over you at the prosecutor's office? Handsome guy like you, and they're witty and easy enough, I bet. Don't tell me you've never had the opportunity to sleep with one of those little ladies."

Simon's temper flared. Why in the world was she being so aggressive? "You go too far, Aura. That has nothing to do with this." He shook his head. "Forget I even brought it up, then. I was wrong to do so. However…there was no need to be quite so hostile with me. I would never be so crass with my own teacher."

Now it was Aura's turn to look uncomfortable. "Hmph. I'm just reminding you of your place as a student. Dr. Cykes is your mentor. Nothing more."

As Simon turned passively back to his food, he couldn't help but note the possessive tone in Aura's voice as she spoke those words.

Those particular events from the previous day were on Simon's mind as he boarded the elevator for the robotics laboratory. Was the thought even worth entertaining after all that? No, of course it wasn't. He had decided that last night, hadn't he? Besides, it was impossible. Dr. Cykes didn't see him that way, and Athena was like a little sister to him. Best to just forget about it…

He was in the hallway to the robotics laboratory now. As he got closer to the laboratory door, he thought he could hear the sound of crying. That was strange…it sounded like a little girl's voice.

"Athena," he breathed, and he ran to cover the last few yards to the robotics lab. He remembered the sense of foreboding he had felt only fifteen minutes earlier, and he willed his nerve not to fail him. The door slid open slowly, and Simon looked inside, apprehensive.

A horrid scene greeted him. He took it in, and a jagged bolt of utmost terror struck him, rendering him motionless for several seconds. Dr. Cykes, bloody, in the disassembling chair. Athena, bloody as well, staring at her mother in a daze. Behind her, a red-stained katana…

Simon felt he might be sick. Reeling, he staggered into the room and his mind began to piece together the sequence of events against his will. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. It looked like Athena had stabbed her mother.

"Athena…oh, God…" he gasped raggedly. He bent down to place a hand on her head. "A-are you hurt? Bloody hell..."

Athena turned her head, still in a daze. She stared back at him with wide eyes, and then she spoke.

"Something's wrong with Mom, so I'm going to fix her!"

The words made no sense. His mind was scrambled. Was Athena ready to tear her mother apart on this disassembling chair? He looked around frantically for a way to conceal any evidence that she had even been in the room. He began to search.

In his first mad dash around the lab, he made one desperate pass by Dr. Cykes' chair, afraid he might faint but knowing he must get closer. Her body lay there crumpled, a red stain blossoming on her chest. He stifled a sob – he couldn't believe how trivial his train of thought had been as he boarded the elevator, couldn't believe that his biggest worry then had been whether or not to confess his love to Dr. Cykes…

It was then that he noticed Ponco. The robot had backed into the side of the room and was staring intensely at Athena. With another jolt of terror, Simon realized what Ponco must have witnessed. Whether it had seen Athena kill her mother was of little consequence – it knew Athena had been there, and Simon had to get rid of it for that reason. Quickly, he ran to pick up the bloody katana from the floor, inching his way toward Ponco on the other side of the room. Ponco whirred, frightened, apparently unable to form words anymore.

"I'm sorry about this," he said softly, and he began to hack away at Ponco's limbs one by one as it squealed in protest. Even though he knew he wasn't "hurting" the robot in any concrete sense, it still pained him to do what he was doing, especially with Athena watching. He glanced at her as he cut off Ponco's left arm; she didn't seem too distressed yet, but he was also fairly certain that she was still in a state of shock. She _had_ cried out, after all…

He worked quickly and efficiently. As he was placing Ponco's parts into a large case near the window, he saw a flash of light and heard the nearly simultaneous click of a camera. Whirling around, he could just make out a figure running away from the door of the robotics laboratory. A reporter? Who knew. The space center was getting a lot of publicity lately with the HAT-1 launch, so there were probably plenty of reporters and photographers snooping around. Simon realized what that reporter must have seen: a woman bleeding out on the disassembling chair, a bloody, frightened child, and a man holding a bloodstained katana. He snorted almost derisively. No wonder they ran.

His eyes swept the room one last time. Had he taken care of everything that might immediately implicate Athena? To his relief, it looked like he had. Just then, his gaze alighted upon Dr. Cykes's desk. There sat Widget, the Christmas present that Dr. Cykes would never be able to give her daughter. He strode quickly up to the desk and picked up the necklace, stuffing it into his coat pocket.

"Alright, Athena," he said as steadily as he could. "We need to get out of here now." He grabbed the case and reached for her hand, but she would not take it. "Athena?"

She still seemed to be in a daze of sorts, and when further attempts would not rouse her, he bent down and picked her up in his free left arm. Slowly, he made his way out of the lab, making sure to keep the disassembling chair completely out of his view.

He feared that if he looked back, he would not be able to leave. He feared that he would stare down at the body of the woman he loved and forget everything else…but no. He clutched Athena tighter. This was all that mattered now.

With Athena pressed tightly against his chest, he wheeled the case with Ponco's remains out of the laboratory and swiftly down the hallway. He knew the security camera would catch him, but he managed to keep Athena out of view.

It took him about five minutes to reach the bottom floor, and there he emptied Ponco into the trash chute. He felt an acute pang of regret for what he had done to the robot, but keeping Athena safe and free of suspicion was of the utmost importance. Ponco was not a living, breathing human…Ponco's future did not depend on what he did next…

Where should he go now? He was still in somewhat of a daze himself; he was amazed that he had even managed to make it this far. He began to walk toward the front lobby, glancing down quickly at Athena nuzzled in the crook of his arm. She seemed a bit more aware of her surroundings than she had been before, and she looked up at Simon in alarm.

"S-Simon? Where's Mommy?"

"She'll b-be alright," said Simon, his voice cracking. "Just try to sleep if you can, Thena. We might need to be away from the space center for a while."

"But why? What about the robots? Ponco needs me! I patched her up just the other day, and she can't get around very well by herself! And why do you sound so scared, Simon?"

"I'm fine, and she'll be fine," said Simon in a monotone. "And please, don't worry about me, whatever you do." He could see a commotion through the glass doors of the lobby's entrance that could only be the police and space center staff; it looked like the crime scene had been discovered. There in the laboratory, they would find a sword with the blood of Metis Cykes on the blade and his fingerprints on the handle. There was also likely security camera footage of him leaving the lab, as well as that fleeing reporter's photo of him holding the bloody katana. All for the better, if it meant Athena would be free from suspicion.

Yes, she was splattered with blood, but she had been there when the "killer" had stabbed her mother. Simon wondered sluggishly about who the killer had been. Did it matter? He was slowly piecing together what he would say to the police, and he was realizing that there was only one thing to do. It was the only thing he _could_ do, his last reassurance that Dr. Cykes' treasure would remain safe.

Her treasure. Remembering something, Simon fumbled around in his coat pocket. He pulled Widget out by the chain, his heart thumping painfully at the memories that poured in. He would not let Dr. Cykes' gift to Athena be taken away as just another piece of evidence from the crime scene. He slipped the necklace over her head, and she looked down curiously at it.

"This is pretty, Simon," said Athena faintly, and he thought he might break down right there at the innocence in her voice.

"Take good care of that, Athena," he said affectionately, and he headed for the lobby doors, resigned to his fate.

_I'm sorry, Aura_, he thought as he grasped the door handle.

By the time he had walked outside, he had nearly convinced himself. The effort of it sapped the rest of his energy. The milling crowd came to swarm around him, and he let Athena be pried, crying, from his arms. His heart wrenched in pain as he watched her fade into the crowd. Would this be the last time he would ever see her?

_She has Widget,_ he thought, trying to reassure himself. _She has a piece of her mother with her. Even when she comes to understand this whole mess, she'll be alright in the end._

At first no one moved to interact with him directly, but he soon found himself being jostled roughly from behind. A particularly burly police officer was slapping handcuffs on his wrists. Simon looked slowly over his shoulder at the man, and the officer returned his gaze with a grunt and a curt, "You're under arrest, Prosecutor Blackquill."

"Appropriately so, because I'm the one who did it," he said softly.

"We know," said the officer gruffly. "You're on the security tape, you're in a photo taken at the scene, and your prints are on the murder weapon. But I guess we'll see whether you're truly guilty or not after the trial." He laughed raucously. "As if we need a trial to know how guilty you are, jailbird."

Simon could hear the crowd murmuring as he was led to the nearby police car. He wished he could drown it out somehow; it was already too much. To knowingly go to his doom for something he did not do…but what choice did he have?

_I didn't do it_, he screamed internally. _I didn't. But if it's the only way to save Athena…_

There, in the back of the police car, he could feel the sadness build to a breaking point, and the first hot tears began to streak down his face. Pathetically, he let them fall, and he wondered – just as pathetically – whether someone would be able to save _him_. His radiant mentor was gone, as was Athena. He doubted he could count on his own family or anyone at the prosecutor's office to do much for him, seeing how much evidence was already piling up against him.

Oh, how lovely and full of possibilities the world had seemed only an hour ago. What had it all come to? It had happened so quickly; everything had shattered. It was meaningless. In his mind, he saw the long straight line his life had taken up to this point splitting in two. One of the paths splitting off from this junction was white, the other black. It was quite obvious that the black path was his current course – a stretch of years spent in prison, followed by inevitable execution. The other…

It was physical pain to even consider it. This path showed him growing even closer to the Cykes, to both Metis and Athena. He saw himself sitting with Metis, learning more from her, prosecuting cases with her at his side, growing old with her…

The image in his mind was hazy, but still joyous. Even though he knew it would have never come to pass, regardless of this horrible turn of events. Even though it hurt.

He allowed himself to wallow in those thoughts for a few seconds more. Then, with a feeling like pulling himself up over a ledge, he was done. He straightened up, his heart hardened to the black path ahead.

Still, part of him hoped that, somehow, those two paths would join together again someday. Maybe they would not be as perfect and whole as the first white path had been, but that hope alone would be enough to blot out the darkness ahead.

Madly, desperately, he hoped.


End file.
